Abandoned in 1997, Montserrat's capital Plymouth has been compared to a modern-day Pompeii. Buried deep in ash and volcanic debris including boulders up to the size of the houses that once stood there, the once thriving business and commercial centre of the island now resembles a dust-covered lunar landscape through which deep canyons have been gouged. Plymouth lies within the volcanic exclusion zone and access into the town is not currently possible. Like Pompei, the volcanic flows at Montserrat were pyroclastic – which move very rapidly down the slopes.